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Comment by falcolas | Hacker News Reader

I had a "Beyond Burger" the other day. It was larger than you'd ever get from either BK or McD's, but it was still a licensed product.

The flavor was pretty good (if a bit too "meaty" as it were), but the texture was very wrong. There were sizable globs of rubbery material in them which was a bit disturbing (think Pearl Tea style tapioca, only 2-3x more resilient). It was as if globules of gristle had made it into the final product, bypassing the grinder.

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I've found it works substantially better as ground meat because you don't get that squishy texture. We've added it to pasta, tacos, and various things now and it's worked out well. Just add some turmeric, chili powder and cook in some cumin seeds.

It sounds like they probably cooked it wrong. From what I understand cooking both the Beyond and Impossible burgers can be a bit finicky and easy to overcook/undercook, which is part of why they've been so slow in rolling it out to restaurants.

For a point of comparison, last time I had a Beyond burger it had texture basically identical to a beef burger cooked medium (a little more dry than my usual preference).

I've had a few Big Macs lately, and from my perspective the meat is perhaps the least consequential part of that sandwich, both flavor and texture-wise. At one point I asked for 4x extra cheese (gross, I know) and after the first few bites, that too seemed to be pushed aside in the palate by the sauce. I can almost guarantee you I would not notice a difference if they swapped the beef for beyond meat.

In my example, it was about 1/2 or 1/3 lb worth of meat, with minimal fixings, so at least some places are definitely using it in a way where the flavor/texture of the 'meat' matters.

I bought a frozen "impossible burger" (although I don't remember if it was beyond burger or impossible burger). It was not a good experience. When uncooked it looked like cat can food, when cooked it still smelled like cat food.

I have a feeling those are the same ingredients than cat food.

I would rather eat an official and assumed vegan burger rather than one of those "fake" meat burger

That was 100% a Beyond Burger. I cannot stomach another Beyond Burger after the smell that hit me after the first time I opened a package of raw Beyond. Raw Impossible Burger has basically no smell to me.

I think they must not be cooking it correctly. I've had the Beyond Burger patties and ground meat. If you only warm it up some of the "gristle" feels like plastic bits. Yuck. If you low and slow cook it, seems like it integrates better

And salt and spices help too, I feel they purposely under season it

They came up with a new formula somewhat recently and I had the same experience. I think it's just awful. Impossible Burger has been a consistent, very burger like experience.

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